Letty's Story
by tiffitch
Summary: Letty's view of the happenings from The Fast and The Furious and insight into their characters.


Title: Letty's story

Author: Tiffany Fitch

Date: 5/21/02

Summary: Letty's view of the happenings from The Fast and the Furious. And insight into their personalities. 

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the movie The Fast and The Furious or any of the characters. Though I wish I did. LOL!! This story is for entertainment value only. :) 

Chapter One

Always Dom

She felt like she was flying, up above the pavement, like a bird. Her mind was a million miles away which was not really a good thing considering the situation she was in. 

Their cars hurtled into the unknown and she fluttered higher away, like a balloon a small child had lost, just drifting between here and there. This wasn't much like her or rather much like other people viewed her. She had always been the tough girl, straight forward, no nonsense, she can take it, just one of the guys, Letty. But what the hell did they know?

The car and the road did that to her sometimes, lulling her into the past. They made her mind drift and forced her to feel again. And, of course, Dom. Always Dom...

Their history was long. He had always been there, as far back as she could remember. A shiny, flashing beacon in an otherwise dreary world. Some of her first memories were of him. She grinned in spite of her heavy heart just thinking about a mischievous, gap toothed, 7 year old Dom. The Dom she had followed around like a baby duck follows its mother. 

Sharing a passion for fast cars and racing, their fathers had been friends long before they were born. Chasing skirts, racing cars and raising hell in their golden days. Her father liked to tell people that she had been conceived after a Toretto bbq. 

The first memory she recalled was Mia's first birthday party. She had clambered after Dom all day in the new dress her father bought her, as a 4-year-old is bound to do. She was hoping for some attention from this vibrant boy. Even then, he attracted people like moths to a light bulb. 

She knew somewhere in her head that she looked very nice that day. Her father had told her over and over again before the party, as had the other grownups when they arrived. Her mother was the only one who turned up her nose and said, " I don't know why you wasted money on a dress that will just end up covered in dirt." 

Her father had smiled down at her with their secret grin. The one that said "Ignore her". It made Letty's heart lighten a bit. But she still needed Dom's reassurance to take away the shame her mother caused. 

Dom was generally unfailingly kind to her. Letting her trail behind him like a shadow. She was like another little sister to him. But he had little patience for her that day. He was trying to impress the other boys that were present and being nice to a girl surely wouldn't do that. 

After many evil glares and several warnings to quit following them, he had tired of the chuckles coming from his friends. " I'll show them", he thought, turning and giving her a slight push. A push that sent her pudgy, wobbly legs toppling. 

Startled at first, she sat mute with brown eyes wide and tearing, mouth open. Then, she let out the howl of all howls and kicked him right in the shin. Cringing at what she had done, she curled into a ball, fearful that he might smack her. Until she noticed the gleam in his eye and he reached out a hand to help her up. 

Having earned their respect with her kick, she was one of the boys that day. Quietly watching them work on their go-carts and being allowed to bring tools every now and then, blessedly making her forget her mother's coming disappointment and anger. 

And so it went, the boys accepting her because of Dom. She tagged along as often as possible to escape her mother's wrath, which had gotten worse each passing year. You generally wouldn't see the boys without her close behind. 

At first, she sat at a distance, but always where she could see them. Little did they know that while she was watching, she was also learning. After sometime, they allowed her to help with small things. Occasionally, they sent her on errands when they couldn't bear another moment of her intense gaze. 

She let them think her a helpless girl until she was the ripe old age of 6. As she knew, even then, that it was pointless to try and change their opinions. Her opportunity to prove her worth arrived one muggy Spring day, the boys had been working on Dom's go-cart for 2 months to no avail, having tried everything they knew to get it running again. 

She watched them become more and more agitated trying to fix the problem. Giving up for a bit, they decided to walk to the store for a coke. Letty stayed behind hoping against hope that this would be her moment. She tinkered with the engine for a few minutes and got up satisfied, praying that it would work. 

When they returned, they took one look at her grease stained clothes and groaned. Dom looked at her disapprovingly as he said, " You didn't mess with my car, did you Letty??"

Crossing her fingers, she just shrugged and looked away silently. She could hear Dom fumbling with the key. Then, the glorious sound of the engine roaring to life. A yell of excitement seemed to fill the garage and, from that moment on, they never underestimated her again. 

It was one of the last clearly happy memories of early childhood that she had. A few weeks later, her father died, at age 40, of a heart attack. Leaving her with a drunken mother and her endless stream of asshole boyfriends. Only Dom was left for her, Always Dom...

She was violently knocked out of her memories by the honking of the semi's horn, instantly returning to the gloomy present. It amazed her that almost 15 years later she was still following after Dom. 

But now, it was serious. The shit they were doing was something that could alter her life forever. It didn't mean a stern reprimand from her mother anymore. She could get some serious jail time. Yet, she was doing it anyway because Dom said it would work out. 

She had bad feelings from the first time he mentioned it, but she hadn't said anything to Dom, she knew what was expected of her. When she finally voiced her fears he had blown her off with a sigh and a wave of his hand. What could she do? She owed her very existence to him and his family. She would have been nothing without them. If she couldn't trust Dom then whom could she trust? 

So, there she sat, in the big fat middle of it, wishing she could turn around and drive the other way. Only two more jobs, she repeated like a mantra in her head, two more.......


End file.
